Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Essentially a coming-of-age story set in working-class North Carolina in the 1970s. But it's so startlingly original that it transcends the genre. This is a wonderful film, from puckish start to momentous finish.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The masterstroke of this small, heartfelt directorial debut (by Peter Care, from a screenplay by Jeff Stockwell) is its integration of animated sequences (by Todd McFarlane) in which action-adventure caricatures of the comic book characters parallel or comment on events in the boys' lives.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The look and feel of the film is entirely beguiling. It is deliberately not a period piece, heavy with dated styles and fads, but instead evokes a sense of timelessness.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Steers refreshingly clear of the usual cliches. Character takes the wheel and dictates the action, not the other way around.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

One of the most inventive, funny and ultimately tragic coming-of-age movies in years.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A fine, inventive '70s period piece about friendship, first love, and growing up to face the hard lessons of life.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

First-time director Peter Care crafts something darkly funny and touching from a coming-of-age fable that might have drifted into formula without deeply felt performances from Culkin and Hirsch and dazzling animation from Todd McFarlane (Spawn) that brings the boys' comic fantasies to jolting life.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Has marked affinities to "Ghost World" and "Donnie Darko." It's more amorphous and less sharply drawn than either but has an acute sense of guilty secrets and secret places.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Sharp, lively, funny and ultimately sobering film.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie has no profound insights to offer, but its nimble acting and lifelike dialogue make it entertaining as well as thoughtful. Think "Stand by Me" meets "Ghost World," and you just about have it.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Infused with the hazy golden glow of nostalgia and unfolds at a leisurely pace, reminiscent of "The Virgin Suicides."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Isn't the best coming-of-age story to hit the big screen, but it skirts new territory, and does so with a flare that earns it a recommendation.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

It's a shame director Care didn't take more time with his characters, even making the film a bit longer to deepen the connections between them. Still, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a keen slice of teen angst and peril.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Foster is strident, Vincent D'Onofrio has little to do but chain-smoke thoughtfully as an accessible priest, and the physical atmosphere is hazy.

Variety David Rooney

The film's chief shortcoming is perhaps its failure to convey a stronger, more atmospheric sense of the repressive 1970s Catholic school environment that breeds the titular boys' rebellion and wild flights of fancy.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

The British music-video director Peter Care (making his feature debut) and screenwriters Jeff Stockwell and Michael Petroni have retained much of the wry, teen-wise dialogue from the late Chris Fuhrman's cult-hit novel, while giving his story arc a fuller, more rounded shape.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

In many ways, this is the thinking-person's teen movie.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Like watching somebody else's flashback and wondering what you were doing then instead.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

If the film had been less extreme in the adventures of its heroes, more willing to settle for plausible forms of rebellion, that might have worked. It tries too hard, and overreaches the logic of its own world.

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

Coming-of-age drama is pretty familiar stuff.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Young costars carry the film, creating real characters from a generally flat script and Peter Care's largely undistinguished direction, both of which conspire to keep Altar Boys' danger at a distance.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Give Care and McFarlane points for trying to do something innovative with the same old thing. But realize that, as spruced up as the facade may be, this movie is indeed still the same old thing.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Undone by simply trying too hard.

Slate David Edelstein

The movie says that the rebellious spirit that generates art can also consume and destroy -- that there's no undangerous way to ride the tiger.

TV Guide Ken Fox

There are moments of wonderful insight, but while the booming, fully animated adventures of the Atomic Trinity (by "Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane) that Care intercuts with the live action at first seem a good idea, they ultimately upset the film's carefully established mood.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It's all way too heavy-handed, though nicely acted by Hirsch, Culkin, and, especially, Jena Malone.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

There are some nice ideas floating around this ambitious film, as well as attempts to say them in a unique way.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There are 10 minutes of animation in the film, and it could have used a few more: They have a spirited, inventive energy that the rest of this well-intentioned but awfully melodramatic movie lacks.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

A touching but odd mix of live action and animation.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The dangers in the lives of these Catholic teens are self-made; they spring from small-town boredom and lead to a conclusion that's meant to be emotionally crushing but is only slightly affecting.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

The director's lack of restraint and overabundance of ambition makes "Altar Boys" not boring, but troubled.